A growing number of Vancouver business heavyweights are throwing their support behind Kevin Falcon’s BC Liberal Party leadership campaign as part of an initiative called Falcon 20/20.
The group includes: Ondine Biomedical Inc. CEO Carolyn Cross, Amica Mature Lifestyles (TSX: ACC) CEO Samir Manji, Innovative Fitness founder Matt Young, Wear Else president Zahra Mamdani, Frontier Dental Laboratories CEO Paolo Kalaw, Anthem Properties president and CEO Eric Carlson, Keg Royalties Income Fund (TSX: KEG.UN) chairman, president, CEO and director David Aisenstat, Rocky Mountaineer executive chairman and founder Peter Armstrong, Seaspan Corporation (NYSE:SSW) chairman Kyle Washington, Earls Restaurants CEO Stan Fuller and O’Neill Hotels and Resorts Ltd. president and CEO John O’Neill.
“The momentum keeps building,” said group founder and president of the Beedie Group, Ryan Beedie. “We have a substantial number of supporters that continues to grow daily.”
Beedie said the Falcon 20/20 includes 30 people but there are many more people involved with the group, though he didn’t provide a total number. He noted his band of Falcon supporters are, in turn, leveraging their own networks to promote Falcon’s leadership campaign.
“These are entrepreneurs, business leaders,” Beedie said. “They’re type-A people for the most part going, ‘Now what? Give me more. What can I do?’”
Beedie also said at the heart of the supporters group is the conviction that, despite other good candidates, Falcon is the man for the job.
“I’ve known him since university,” Beedie said of his own motivation for starting Falcon 20/20. “He’s a leader. Certain people are born that way. And he’s got it. He’d be successful at anything he did, whether it was in government or the private sector. He’s just one of those people who achieve great things.”